Aphasia Treatment Approaches

• Treatment approaches can be compensatory or restorative

Compensatory Approaches

• Promoting Aphasics Communication Effectiveness (PACE): created to facilitate equal participation, exchange of new information, naturalistic feedback, and the use of any communication modality; compensatory
• Communicative Drawing Program: severe aphasia use drawing to communicate; compensatory
• Back to the Drawing Board: employs drawing as a form of communication for individuals with severe aphasia; compensatory
• Visual Action Therapy (VAT): uses drawing and pantomime for communication; compensatory

To Improve Overall Language

• Constraint-Induced Language Therapy (CILT): clients are unable to use compensatory modalities to communicate; restorative
• Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT): severity limited in oral expression, spoken language is facilitated through exaggerated spoken prosody/melody; both compensatory and restorative
• Voluntary Control of Involuntary Utterances (VCIU): severe non-fluent aphasia who primarily produce only a few automatic words (and nothing else) are trained to use automatic words as a starting point for producing voluntary, novel utterances; restorative
• Treatment for Aphasic Perseveration (TAP): clients perseverate are trained to reduce perseverations and increasing naming skills; restorative
• Script Training: person develops, practices, and uses personally relevant actions; restorative
• Response Elaboration Training: clients are shown pictures and promoted to elaborate on what they did; restorative
• Computer-based Treatments - APPS: clients are shown pictures and promoted to elaborate; restorative

To Improve Word-finding (naming)

• Semantic Feature Analysis (SFA): strategy to improve word retrieval by analyzing semantic features to a word; both restorative and compensatory
• Verb Network Strengthening Treatment (VNesT): enhances word retrieval and sentence production by focusing on verbs and their thematic roles; restorative
• Phonological Components Analysis (PCA): targets phonological aspects of words to improve naming abilities, similar to SFA, but focusing on word features; both restorative and compensatory
• Gestural Facilitation of Naming: uses gestures to aid in word retrieval and naming accuracy; compensatory
• Word Retrieval Cueing Strategies (Cueing Hierarchy Treatment): follows a series of cues ranging from general to specific to facilitate word finding; compensatory

To Improve Syntax

• Sentence Production Program for Aphasia (SPPA): structured program to improve sentence through a series of syntax focused exercises; restorative
• Treatment of Underlying Forms (TUF): addresses complex sentence structures to enhance syntactic processing and production; restorative
• Mapping Therapy: improving the mapping of thematic roles to syntax and enhance sentence comprehension and production; restorative

To Improve Reading and Writing

• Copy and Recall Treatment (CART): targets writing skills through an array of word leers; restorative
• Anagram and Copy Treatment (ACT): with dyslexia & spelling impairment: targets improved spelling skills, having clients manipulate a sequence of letters to spell words; restorative
• The Problem-Solving Approach: targets improved spelling through repeated stimulation, corrections from clinician, self-monitoring of writing and spelling skills, and use of compensatory strategies; both compensatory/restorative
• Multiple Oral Rereading (MOR): targets reading skills by facilitating whole-word reading, instead of letter by letter reading; restorative
• Oral Reading for Language in Aphasia (ORLA): recovery of reading comprehension through strengthening the phonological and semantic networks; restorative